I moved to Los Angeles from wine-savvy San Francisco in 2004, with little sense of just what kind of wine town it was, but soon learned that strictly in terms of wine geek credentials, it had few to none.
Don’t get me wrong, it was and is a great wine town, and remains the largest market for wine in the country. But as huge as the market for wine is here, for much of the last twenty years or so it has been dominated by the purchase and consumption of trophies, California wines, and collectibles, crowding out more esoteric choices and tastes. Traditionally Angelenos haven’t much liked to get out of their comfort zone. That has all changed dramatically in the last decade, and no phenomenon exemplifies this change better than in the wave of new wine bars that have opened here in the last few years.
The changes reflect, I believe, a broader change in wine culture nationwide, by which Americans are more open, more curious, more willing to branch out into unfamiliar territory to get to the next thrill-in-a-glass. But there’s something especially promising about the wine bar renaissance in Los Angeles, where trends are magnified, fanned like a flame, and thrust into the media glare. It’s particularly reassuring that this once conventional wine culture has become so willfully unconventional.
It was probably A.O.C., the groundbreaking wine bar opened by
Caroline Styne and Suzanne Goin in 2002, that gingerly led Angelenos away from wines that weren’t necessarily from California, and weren’t necessarily household names — it’s where the words like Grüner Veltliner, Roussillon, and Nero d’Avola were first uttered, sounded out, repeated, and tasted. It wasn’t altogether easy; “It wasn’t the greatest response at first,” admitted Caroline Styne in a 2006 interview. “It was more in their intonation than anything else. It went from like ‘Wow, this list is full of wines I’ve never heard of’ to ‘Oh my God, what are these wines, how dare you!’” But Styne and her staff were persistent, the public embraced the approach, and curiosity has done the rest.
Now the city is practically a proving ground for different wine bar formats, and since innovation comes naturally to a town of movers and shakers, the forms they’re taking are quite groundbreaking as well. Here’s a snapshot of a few new venues that are making Los Angeles one of the most exciting places in the country for lifting a glass.
One of the most recent openings is Barbrix, in Silverlake. Claudio 
Blotta and his wife Adria have repurposed an old home on Hyperion Avenue, leaving in the hominess, with a cozy menu of small plates and a very economical list of 85 wines, about 30 of which are available by the glass. What keeps me coming back to Barbrix are the $6 glass pours, a price unheard of in this town and in this day and age, of wonderful oddballs like Slovenian Sauvignon, Croatian Riesling, earthy Hungarian reds from small producers whom no one has heard of but are unbelievably exotic and delicious. Most of the wine selections are under the radar; all are eminently affordable — in fact nothing on the list exceeds $55 a bottle. What more could you ask for from a neighborhood wine bar?
From its exterior, Lou on Vine is practically anti-cozy, set in a Hollywood strip mall next to a nail parlor and a laundromat. The bar, in
a corner of the L-shaped building, hides in plain sight, disguised by contact paper and heavy curtains. But through that door is a place that literally shuts out the world and opens up to an unexpectedly warm, inviting atmosphere. In look and feel, it’s like the small Parisian wine bars from which owner Lou Amdur took his inspiration — dark and smoky, without the smoke.
Lou also sells a tasty selection of local fare from a small kitchen in the back, but people come for the wines; it’s the closest thing we have to a natural, ‘terroirist’ wine bar in LA. Amdur gives preference to wines that are grown through natural means, made with native yeasts, dry farmed, and produced in a non-interventionist manner. He has an especially strong predilection for unusual wines and indigenous varieties; he and his staff aren’t afraid to hand sell your occasional Schioppettino, Zweigelt, Refosco, Torette, and Pineau d’Aunis. And customers aren’t afraid to try them. Six years ago, that’s not a bet I’d have taken.
For the sheer range of options, check out the multiple environments at Palate, a restaurant/wine shop/cheese shop/wine bar and lounge — I’m 
sure I’ve missed something — nestled into an old storage vault in Glendale. The food’s executed by Octavio Becerra, who used to run the kitchens of Patina for Joachim Splichal, but the many wine programs — restaurant, wine shop, wine bar, etc., are the work of Steve Goldun, who has few peers in the city for his breadth of knowledge or his curiosity — you will not find a more thoughtful, more storied wine list in the city. It’s affordable and wildly eclectic, full of rarities and often featuring older vintages, by the glass. Special love and attention is heaped upon Barolo and Burgundy selections (both near and dear to Goldun’s heart).
The recent explosion in downtown drinking establishments has included
two gleaming new wine bars: Corkbar is devoted to recreating the California tasting room experience in an urban setting, with domestic offerings from the likes of Peay, Patz & Hall, and Ethan (son of Bob) Lindquist. And last month BottleRock opened a satellite from its Culver City location near the Staples Center. Run by Fred Hakim, one of the most innovative features in its wine 
program is that in addition to a great selection by the glass, you can dabble in bottles as well; if you commit to two glasses, the house will buy back the remainder of the bottle, which the bartenders will then feature on a chalkboard to sell through. So every night there’s a rotating selection of random wines for the tasting.
One of the more innovative wine bars to have opened recently is Pourtal, in Santa Monica. Managed by industry veteran Peter
Birmingham, Pourtal brings the bustling ‘bar’ aspect of wine bar to the fore — there are just a few tables, many counters, and not one but four banks of Enomatic spigots. It is your enomatic duty to make your way around the bar, glass and cash card in hand, to sample the wares. There’s no sitting at Pourtal, in other words. It’s an exercise program by the glass. The arrangement puts the wine at center stage a bit more than your usual wine bar; staff is on hand to offer advice, but it’s equally common for customers to make suggestions to each other on what to try next.
The banks are themselves themed in wonderfully creative groupings — you might have a look at what’s doing in Greek wines, for example, or see what the rest of the world produces in the way of fruit bombs, or do a flight of Rosés for your ‘Summer Fling.’ And for the Fourth of July weekend, Birmingham has fashioned a flight called the “United Grapes of America” which will feature wines from such (reciprocal) states as New York (for Riesling), Virginia (for Viognier), Missouri (for its awesome regional offering, Norton), and Hawaii (for a passion fruit wine called Tradewinds, from Mansfield Winery). In all, he’ll pour wine from 29 states in the Union — I’d wager that that has never been done before, anywhere. Which is yet another indication how far LA wine lovers have strayed from their old comfort zone.
A.O.C. Wine Bar, 8022 W 3rd St., Los Angeles, CA (323) 653-6359; aocwinebar.com
Barbrix 2442 Hyperion Ave., Los Angeles (323) 622-2442; barbrix.com
Lou on Vine, 724 Vine St., Hollywood, (323) 962-6369; louonvine.com
Palate Food & Wine, 933 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale, (818) 662-9463; palatefoodwine.com
Corkbar, 403 W 12th St, Los Angeles, (213) 766-0050; corkbar.com
BottleRock, 1050 S Flower St., (213) 747-1100; bottlerock.net
Pourtal, 104 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica; pourtal.com